1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to figure processing apparatus and, more particularly, to a figure processing apparatus arranged to draw a locus figure by causing an original figure to continuously travel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional type of figure processing apparatus having the function of displaying a figure in a graphically emphasized form is commonly arranged in the following manner. For example, if an original figure such as that shown in FIG. 4 is to be shadowed, the original figure is made to travel in pixel-by-pixel fashion in an expanded bit plane in the desired direction while the logical OR of the previous locus figure and the current locus figure is being sequentially obtained along the locus of figure travel. In this manner, a figure such as that shown in FIG. 5 can be obtained.
In the above-described conventional arrangement, however, since the continuous drawing of the figure is performed on the basis of the logical OR alone, the drawing process cannot reflect information on any inflection point of the outline of the original figure, with the result that no strong emphasis effect can be obtained.